Mark Politov (History of Margovya)
) |birth_place = Soledad Nuevo, Sta. Agnessa, Margovya |spouse = (m. 1985-1988) (m. 2002-present) |religion = |profession = Actor, producer, screenwriter, director}} Mark Anastasiyevich Politov (born April 29, 1957) is a Margovyan actor, screenwriter, producer and director. He is best known in television for the roles of Mikhail Trofimov in the long-running medical emergency-based television series from 1981 to 1987, and for the role of the womanizing doctor Nikolai Trotshev in the MNBN sitcom from 1986 to 2004. He is also known for his roles in the films (1997), Mission Implausible 9: The Era of Political Instability (2001), (2003), and as Detective Dean McIntyre in the Mafiya series films Mafiya v Mafia (2004), The Bratva's Legacy (2006), Conquerors (2008), Black Lights (2009), and Downfall of an Empire (2012). Birth and early life Mark Politov was born in Soledad Nuevo, Sta. Agnessa on April 29, 1957 to former Margovyan basketball player and Margovyan National Basketball League Hall of Fame icon Anastasiy Politov (November 13, 1933 — June 4, 2004) and restaurant chef Maria Antonova-Politova (July 12, 1936 — August 7, 2016) as the eldest of four children. He has two younger sisters, Anya (born March 15, 1960), and Maria (born August 5, 1969), and one younger brother, actor (born April 30, 1963). He is also the first-cousin of actress . Politov was first introduced to basketball at the age of seven, when his father took him to a game against Team Arbatskaya during the 1963-64 tournament season of the MNBL. Since then, he has developed an interest in the sport, making the varsity team of his school in 1966 when he was 9. He also went with his father to every major tournament game of Team Sta. Agnessa in the MNBL, until his father played as one of the starting players in the all-star inaugural game of the Margovyan Basketball Association on September 2, 1968. Politov also went on to be a member of Sta. Agnessa State University's high school varsity team from 1972 to 1976. Because of this, he was offered a chance to try out for the MBA under Sta. Agnessa Marshals, but he refused to continue after being cast as an extra in the 1976 film Playing the Field and decided he wanted to be an actor instead. Acting Career Breakout in Film (1976-1980) Politov, unlike most teenage actors, did not drop out of school and instead entered college in Sta. Agnessa State University, but he did not take the basketball scholarship offered to him by the university or the opportunity to be drafted immediately into the MBA, as he claimed to have found new love in acting. After being cast as an extra playing the role of one of the players of the basketball team headed by the lead actor (played by in the 1976 film Playing the Field, Politov went on to feature as an extra or minor characters in blockbuster films (and even appeared in commercials of Lubovenko sports cars) from 1976 to 1978. In 1978, Politov accepted the role of Ulises Kozamov in the action-comedy film Professional Serial Killer, alongside , which turned out to be his major film breakout upon its release in January 31, 1979. He also starred either as a supporting or the main character in the films Lawsuit and Mission Implausible 3, both in 1979, and Wardrobe Malfunction in 1980. ''Paramedics'' and Captain Ball (1980-1986) Politov auditioned for the role of the nice and friendly but promiscuous and womanizing Mikhail Trofimov in the television series , which unbeknownst to him, would catapult him to stardom and future success. Initially, the role was given to , but a car accident made him incapable of performing the duties of a paramedic for a while, so he backed out, and instead, the role was given to Politov, which he accepted. Politov officially joined the main cast of Paramedics after the departure of after the show's eighth season. He joined the cast at the start of season nine in 1981, and carried the role until he had to leave in 1986 after accepting a role in what would turn out to be one of the biggest acting breaks in his entire career. Aside from Paramedics, Politov has also done a lot of movies during the early and mid-80's, the most notable of which was the 1983 film Captain Ball, in which he played a geeky and unpopular kid who worked his way into the varsity basketball team of his school (and eventually became team captain or captain ball) to impress his high school crush (played by ), who turned out to be a social climber and gold digger, only dating guys for fame and money. Politov also appeared in the films Mission Implausible 4 in 1983, The Naked Truth and Second Chances in 1984, and Friday Night in 1985. He also played the notorious Ivan Dragunov in a notable performance in the 1985 action-crime film Vault and as Mikhail Garisov in the 1986 action-comedy film Doofus Academy, both alongside friend and Paramedics co-star . ''The Diner Club'' (1986-2004) , who was the executive producer of Paramedics until his death in 1990, was impressed by Politov's performance in the show that he offered him a role for another television series he was then developing, a sitcom entitled . The role was that of Nikolai Trotshev, a womanizing and two-timing medical student (and later doctor). When the role was first offered to Politov in 1984, he declined it, saying that he is planning to prolong his stay in Paramedics. However, a year later, when almost all five other main characters have been cast, Pankavuranov offered the role again to Politov for one last time, for almost double the amount of the original offer, making Politov the highest-paid of the cast from the start until the end of the series. Politov accepted the offer, but insisted he will finish his renewed three-year contract with Paramedics, which was until the show's fourteenth season ended in 1987. While filming his last season of Paramedics, Politov began filming his scenes on the first season of The Diner Club, which premiered in MNBN in 1986 to positive viewer feedback. According to Politov, when he accepted the role, he was planning to leave after three seasons to go back to Paramedics, where he really enjoyed his role and the company of his co-stars. However, during the third season, his chemistry with his new co-stars made him stick around until the series ended in 2004, which, according to him, was the best decision he has ever made, considering the fact that The Diner Club became a huge phenomenon during the 90's and especially during its last seasons in the early 2000's. Politov has also starred in numerous films during the time he was filming episodes of The Diner Club. Among his most notable performances during this period were the 1990 film Coach Daddy, where he played the head coach of a school's grade school varsity team, and he started dating the mother of one of his players (played by ). He also starred in the 1991 horror film Show Me the Body alongside , , and , with whom he became really good friends with even after leaving Paramedics. Politov also starred with in the 1990 adult film Blow Job, and voiced the role of Squawky the Parrot in the 1991 animated film The Pirate's Conquest. He also played the role of Judge #8 in the 1992 Margovyan remake of the 1957 classic , played the role of Oleg Kirilenko in the 1993 comedy film See-Through, and as Faddey Olsenko in the 1994 horror film Broken Soul and its 1996 sequel Broken Soul 2. The three of them also co-starred in the 1996 film Combat, and Politov starred with Vizinsky, Ulabrov, Radoslavovsky and Portorenko in the 1997 film . As The Diner Club got even more popular during the late 90's where Politov's character gets a divorce and his on-screen wife takes everything, Politov has taken on even bigger films, though, according to him, even after the series ended, actors and actresses that he just met, especially new and younger actors, still recognize him as Nikolai Trotshev from The Diner Club. "The first time I'm introduced to a younger and relatively unknown actor or actress, they always say 'hey, you're Nikolai from The Diner Club, right?'," Politov told Svetlana Lanuva. "But it's okay, I'm really happy doing the show these past years and working with my co-stars was one of the best things that's happened to me." Politov made his directorial debut in the 1997 film Office Slut, and aside from portraying basketball players in the 1998 films Change Court and The Unexpected Victory, also played the father of 's character in the 2000 film Titanium. Politov also reprises his role in the 2001 film Mission Implausible 9: The Era of Political Instability after 18 years, and played the role of the abusive uncle of in the 2003 of the novel A Criminal's Confession. He goes on to direct another Rafael dela Cruz movie adaptation, the 2004 film . ''Mafiya'' series and later career (2004-present) Shortly before the filming of the last episodes of The Diner Club ended on November 2003, Politov got an offer playing an American detective on the upcoming Mafiya series film Mafiya v Mafia. He immediately accepted the role, saying that he didn't want to be "one of those actors whose careers stop at the end of a very successful TV series." He played Detective Dean McIntyre, a Los Angeles detective that investigated the death of the character of , which forces and to go to the US as Margovyan fugitives under American tourist identities. Because of his performance as Detective McIntyre, Politov was able to reprise his role in the sequels starting from The Bratva's Legacy until Downfall of an Empire (with the exception of Criminal Strike). He also played the role of Pavel Frapovich in the 2011 blockbuster hit Limelight, as the father of Mark Aiden (played by ) in the 2013 film The Band Code, and as Former President in the 2014 film . He also appeared on the 2014 film as the husband of Sta. Conrada Riviera (played by ). In 2016, Politov accepted a role as Maksim Vorkov, a high-profile Margovyan drug dealer who was claimed to have been spotted by a group of police officers from the Philippines in the country's capital city of Manila, in the upcoming film The Duterte Code, which will serve as a seventh film in the franchise, although it deals more with the old Task Force Interceptors of the Arbatskaya City than the present RBI Interceptors of the . Personal Life In 1974, at age 17, while he was a member of his high school basketball varsity team, Politov knocked up his high school girlfriend, then-15 year old Andzhela Quarimova. His son from the accident, Ravil Politov (born January 13, 1975), went on to be a very successful player of MBA's Arbatskaya Monarchs. During college, Politov knocked up a college girl he met at the bar while she was on a spring break in Margovya. Their son, Karl (born January 19, 1978), also became a successful basketball player, as a long-time player of Sampuva Stars. In 1982, he met actress on the set of Captain Ball. They started dating weeks after principal photography of the film had finished, and got married in 1985 after three years of dating. They had one daughter, Pavlina (born June 18, 1986). They had separated in 1987, and their divorce was finalized on March 23, 1988. They allegedly parted on good terms, and remained friends ever since. Between 1987 and 1996, Politov has reportedly dated both actresses and non-showbiz women. Some of the actresses he dated include , and . When asked in an interview if he had dated or thought about dating one of his The Diner Club co-stars, Politov said: "We've always been a family since the show started, and I've treated Amanda Shchpalova, Ana Gorbacheva and Darya Isarmova more like sisters than potential girlfriends." He also added that because of this, the Nikolai-Bela arc was very awkward for him and Isarmova, despite Margovyan TV and media critics considering them as one of the TV couples with the most on-screen chemistry. He had also admitted to have been living a bachelor life after getting divorced from Garbova. "I'm like Nikolai, in a way," Politov said in an interview with TV Margovya magazine. "When I'm not exclusively dating someone, let alone an actress just as popular, I bring home the occasional one-night stand." Politov had been friends with actress ever since he was married to Garbova, but he didn't start dating her until 1996 while on the set of . They got married in 2002 after six years of dating, and had two children: Ravil (born August 10, 1999), and Maya (born April 12, 2005). Filmography ;Film ;Television Awards and nominations Category:Margovya Category:People (History of Margovya) Category:Actors (History of Margovya)